sauced

Mexican Hot Chocolate

By Liz:

I take great pride in the fact that my great contribution to Karena and Dave's wedding day was the Bond-inspired martini. And so in return for the Vesper Lynd post, I'd like to call attention to a drink that I will forever associate with Karena and Dave - Mexican hot chocolate.

I have an eclectic collection of kitchen implements, but one of my most obscure is the molinillo, a wooden mexican whisk designed for the sole purpose of frothing hot chocolate. History has it that the Spanish colonists, totally taken by this New World chocolate business, invented it in Mexico in the 1700s.

Karena and Dave showed up in New York City a couple years back, equipped with this frother, some Ibarra chocolate blocks, vanilla paste and ancho chilies, and my conception of hot chocolate has never been the same.

Mexican Hot Chocolate

Makes 2 cups

2 cups whole milk
6 sections Ibarra chocolate blocks
1/4 tsp. ground chili (preferably ancho chili; do not substitute chili powder*)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 vanilla fresh bean (optional, but so delicious)
whipped cream to top

Heat milk, chocolate, chili, cinnamon and vanilla until chocolate is dissolved. Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with chili. Serve hot.

*Chili powder typically as sold in the U.S. typically has other spices mixed in. Make sure to add pure chili. Another option is to grind your own, and strain out the pieces before serving.

Jambalaya

By Karena:

We know that there are as many jambalaya recipes as there are people in Louisiana, but so far our favorite starting point is the Lee Bros.' version.  Shrimp, Andouille sausage, chicken thighs, yum. A meal in-one that you can eat for days.  You wouldn't expect such bold flavors from two skinny white guys, but hey, when it's good, it's good.

Jambalaya:

• 1 lb. headless medium shrimp, shells on
• 3.5 cups chicken broth
• 1 T Lee Bros. Shrimp Boil (we keep a batch of this in our cupboard)
• 1 T canola oil
• 10 oz. smoked andouille sausage or chorizo, cut on the bias 3/4 inch thick
• 6 chicken thighs, skinned (about 2 lbs).
• 2 t salt and 2 t pepper
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion
• 5 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 28-oz can whole tomatoes, drained, juice reserved
• 1 cup long-grain rice
• thyme sprigs
• We like to add spicy paprika, cayenne, or hot sauce into the tomatoes at the end

Shrimp Boil: (Makes about a cup)

• 1 T peppercorns
• 1 T celery seeds
• 6 bay leaves, shredded with scissors
• 1/2 kosher salt
• 3 T ground cayenne pepper
• (Grind all ingredients except for the cayenne, place in a bowl and add the cayenne pepper and shake to combine.  It will store for up to 2 months).

1. Peel the shrimp and place in a bowl, reserving the shells separately.  In a medium saucepan, bring the chicken broth to a boil over medium-heat. Add the shrimp shells and the shrimp boil, turn the heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove the shells and discard.  Turn off the heat.

2. In a broad-bottomed 4-qt pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers.  Add the sausage, turning the pieces with tongs until the outer surface of the sausage pieces are browned all over, about 6 minutes total.  Remove to a plate and reserve the sausage.

3. Brown the chicken.  Add the chicken thighs to the sausage fat in the pot (yum), in batches, if necessary.  Sprinkle them with pinches of salt and pepper.  Saute them on one side until they are a rich golden brown, about 4 minutes, agitating them every so often and adding drops of oil to keep them from sticking.  Turn the thighs, sprinkle them again with salt and pepper and saute until the other side is nicely browned.  Remove to a plate and reserve.

4. Add the onion, garlic, and 1/4 cup reserved tomato juice (add hot sauce/cayenne/paprika, if using) to the pot and saute, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from the bottom, until the vegetables are softened and fragrant, about 3 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, crushing them as you add them.  Turn the heat to medium-low and simmer until the ingredients are thoroughly mixed and thickly soupy, 4-6 minutes.  Add the chicken, nestling the thighs in the stew.  Then add the sausage and any juices that may have drained from the chicken and sausage.

5.  Strain the broth into a measuring cup and add enough of the remaining tomato juice to make 3 cups of liquid.  Add the liquid to the pot and then add the rice.  Cover and cook over low heat for 25 minutes, or until the rice is tender and has absorbed most of the liquid.  Turn off the heat and add the shrimp, stirring to distribute.

6. Let the jambalaya rest for 10 minutes before serving.  The rice should be plump and very moist but not soupy.  Serve in bowls, garnish with thyme (and avocado, and sour cream and more hot sauce and whatever you want!)

Spicy Lemon-Rosemary Shrimp

By Liz

Today was a grumpy Monday. It wasn’t a terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day, simply one of those days where nothing very bad happens, but nothing good does either. It kicked off with my accidentally silencing my alarm, and when I awoke a panicked hour later, the day slid slowly but surely into a tickytack funk.

It was one of those days that would normally be salvaged by coming home to a warm kitchen with Shravan enveloped in a cloud of coriander, stirring up some fragrant spicy sauce and pouring me wine. But Shravan’s in Africa, and as much as I love Skype, it doesn’t cook me dinner.

So there was only one course of action: I sought refuge in the mother of all fallback meals, a spicy lemon-rosemary shrimp that practically cooks itself and then does the dishes.

­The first thing I did when I got home was pop a bottle of pinot and the last of Judy’s bourbon balls. (A friendly mason jar is shuttling back and forth between our two apartments, each time bearing decadent sweets.)

Feeling a bit better, I set rice on to boil and shrimp out to thaw. The beauty of this dish is it requires exactly one bag of frozen shrimp and one lemon; the rest of the ingredients reside in any well-stocked cupboard.

It’s adapted from a recipe that Mandy Warmbier, sister of Sauced co-blogger Karena, submitted to The Barefoot Cookbook, a collection of recipe favorites that we compiled for Karena’s wedding. I believe Mandy adapted it from a restaurant originally, and while I love her version, it requires far more patience and butter than I usually have at the ready.

Mine is a quick stovetop deal, intended for nights you’re hungry and harried and just want a warm bowl of fragrant food. After inhaling the spoonfuls of spicy shrimp, I felt almost human again.

Spicy Lemon-Rosemary Shrimp

1 1/2 c. rice, steamed
1 lb. of shrimp, defrosted and shelled
1 T. of butter
2 T. of olive oil
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 tsp. crushed rosemary
dried red chilies
1 T. Worcestire sauce
1 lemon, juiced
Tabasco to taste
freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste

Steam rice. Grate garlic. Heat butter and olive oil in a nonstick pan over low heat (technically, you could do with less oil, but heck, I’ve had a crummy day). Add in garlic, rosemary and chili flakes. Be careful not to let the garlic burn – if it starts to brown, turn the heat down immediately. Cook until garlic and chilies are fragrant, 1-2 minutes.

Add shrimp and turn heat to high. Cook until shrimp is just pink (1-2 minutes), and add Worcestire, lemon, Tabasco and salt/pepper to taste. Continue stirring until shrimp is cooked through. Serve over rice with a squeeze of lemon.

Grilled Tilapia-Avocado Soup

By Liz

One of the best parts of Whole Foods is the $4 bags of avocados. The caveat is that they all ripen at the exact same time. I found myself today with two avocados perilously close to overripe, which is just plain unacceptable.

Shravan’s friend Eric, a fashion photographer who is chronicling everything he eats for a year, mentioned recently that he had photographed Marcus Samuelsson for the NYT, and found him both engaging and interesting. I was inspired to flip again through Sameulsson’s African cookbook, “The Soul of a New Cuisine,” for a suitable avocado recipe.

I found a promising soup with grilled tilapia, a kitchen staple in the Vidyarthi household (as anyone who has come back to 349 Union for late-night food can attest… Randy). Why have I never fried avocados with lime and spices before? Genius!

Anything with that much chili and spice HAD to be good. This proved true enough, though I fell victim to my own enthusiasm and way overdid it on the chilies (in true Shravan fashion). I also cooked the soup longer to intensify the flavors until it essentially became a tangy, spicy salsa, which balanced beautifully with the mellow tilapia and creamy avocado.

I’ve reprinted the recipe below as it appears in the cookbook, for people to tweak their own flavors. Personally, I upped the cilantro and avocado, and sprinkled fried corn tortilla strips over the top to add some crunch.

Grilled Tilapia-Avocado Soup
1/4 cup plus 2 T. olive oil
1 T. chopped cilantro
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 t. Green Curry Paste (below)
Four 4-ounce Tilapia fillets
3 ripe but still firm avocados, pitted, peeled and quartered
4 Scotch bonnet chili peppers, seeds removed, finely chopped
2 medium red onions, chopped
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups white wine
2 cups chopped canned tomatoes (or 4 fresh)
1 t. salt
1 cup cooked black beans, rinsed if canned 

Combine 2 T. of the olive oil, juice of one lime, 2 t. chopped cilantro, 2 garlic cloves, and 1 t. of the curry paste in a blender and puree. Brush the puree over the tilapia and avocados.

Heat 2 T. olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add the sliced garlic, chilies, onions and sautee until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and white wine, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, the remaining lime juice and cilantro, salt, black beans, and simmer gently for another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in another two small nonstick sautee pans over high heat. In one, add the avocados and cook, turning once, about 3 minutes per side. In the other, cook the tilapia until just opaque, about 6 minutes. Cut both tilapia and avocado into one-inch piees.

To serve, divide tilapia and avocado among shallow soup bowls and pour in soup. Serves 2-4.

Green Curry Paste
10 birds eye chilis or 6 habanero chilies, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped
2 lemongrass stalks, tender inner part only, finely chopped
Finely grated zest of 2 limes
1 large red onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 t. ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom, preferably fresh ground
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 in. ginger, peeled and grated
2 T. peanut oil
2 t. salt

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and puree to a chunky paste. Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.